ESPN tabs Michigan QB as top impact transfer for 2016
You could make the argument that no transfer made a greater impact in the B1G than Jake Rudock.
The former Iowa quarterback made significant strides throughout his first and only season in Ann Arbor and wound up being the second player in Michigan history to reach the 3,000-yard mark. Rudock will be one of the toughest skill players to replace in the B1G.
But ESPN believes Michigan has a guy plenty capable of doing so. An ironically enough, he’s a transfer who went to the same high school as Rudock.
ESPN college football reporter Andrea Adelson came up with her list of the most important transfers for the 2016 season. At the top of it was Michigan quarterback John O’Korn, who sat out the 2015 season after transferring from Houston.
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The former American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year is the likely favorite, but he hasn’t been named the starter yet. He’ll still have to beat out the likes of Wilton Speight, Shane Morris and four-star true freshman Brandon Peters.
Still, O’Korn cracked the top of Adelson’s list. She said that O’Korn could follow in the footsteps of Jake Coker and Baker Mayfield, both of whom were transfer quarterbacks who led their teams to the College Football Playoff in 2015.
Also on the list was former Penn State receiver Geno Lewis, who transferred to Oklahoma for his final year of eligibility.
Here are the 10 players that made the cut:
- QB John O’Korn, Houston to Michigan
- QB Trevor Knight, Oklahoma to Texas A&M
- QB Dakota Prukop, Montana State to Oregon
- RB Duke Catalon, Texas to Houston
- DL Gerald Willis, Florida to Miami
- WR Geno Lewis, Penn State to Oklahoma
- QB Luke Del Rio, Oregon State to Florida
- QB Kenny Hill, Texas A&M to TCU
- QB Riley Ferguson, Tennessee to JUCO to Memphis
- DB Priest Willis, UCLA to Texas A&M